Self-Published Books on the NYT List
Last week, fully half of the top 10 bestselling ebooks were self-published. There’s an interesting story on Forbes about this trend, as well as a link to Digital Book World’s analysis.
At this year’s Digital Book World conference in New York, my agent and I were invited on stage to talk about the benefits of hybrid publishing. What seemed a neologism then feels old-hat now. And the number of authors moving from traditional to self and from self to traditional is blurring the distinction between the two. Interestingly, with the commercial success of so many self-published authors, the advice that was mocked a year ago is now being bandied about like a truism: Take control of your publishing future. Do not be afraid of getting your work in the hands of the reader. Ignore the sages of old and listen to your gut. And keep writing.
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Thank you for posting these! It's a whole new world out there! Thank you for being a pioneer out in the wilds of this new space — and passing it on by sharing! You rock, Hugh :-) Really loving Wool!
Thanks Hugh. Just returned from writer's conference today. Was told by agent that I had already shot myself in the foot by self-publishing. Nice to know there are other opinions out there. One tidbit I learned from both Jane Friedman and Mark Coker was to offer a self-published ebook for free to build numbers and awareness. I
I really appreciated the article about your story in Writers Digest. Thank you.
I think that agent has shot their self in the foot by ignoring a major trend in publishing. My agent just picked up her second self-published bestseller in the past year. It's becoming a thing.
Here's to you AND your agent, Hugh! I am sending everyone I know links to your wonderfully uplifting story. I edit the MWA NorCal newsletter and I've been told to lay off the Kindle self-publishing content because it's anti-publisher, but I think it's definitely pro-author — which is what we've needed for a long time. There's some catch-phrase like the freedom from one's shackles we need. Author emancipation — that's what we need! All except the crappy tax laws we're getting hit with now on Amazon that will send your SS # into some server that will get hit by some hacker. Taxpayer ID is the way to go now. Hugh, when are you writing that how-to book??? Your audience is waiting :-)
